The Cost of a Century Racism to Historically Black Churches in the Diocese of New Jersey: Approximately $100 Million

Charting the New Jersey racial wealth gap in the NJISJ Study.

We have written previously about the persistent racial wealth gap in New Jersey between White households and Black households (a gap which remains at a discrepancy of approximately 20:1) and the effect this gap has on historically Black churches in the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey. But if discussions of adequate reparations are going to be well informed, this phenomenon requires more explicit explanation. The short version is that White Episcopal racism in the Diocese of New Jersey has cost the Black Episcopalians of the historically Black churches (HBCs) of the diocese, at a minimum, an estimated $100 million over the past century. 

In most discussions of the financial harm done and the scale of reparations required, it does not appear that the true scope of this harm is fully understood, even among members of the HBCs. This means that harm is regularly underreported and under appreciated, both in and beyond the affected HBCs, and that deliberations regarding funding reparative justice initiatives are likely to produce inappropriately low targets for funding (such as the current deliberations of the recently formed board for the diocesan reparative justice trust). Allow me to explain the details.

There is a well-documented history of highly generous, self-sacrificial giving in Black church communities. The rate of giving relative to income is, generally speaking, far higher than in the White churches of our diocese. Unfortunately, this is a virtue born of harm. Because of the racial wealth gap, Black Episcopalians have had to devote a dramatically higher percentage of their wealth and income to church giving in order to have functioning Black churches than White people have had to devote to church giving in order to have functioning White churches.

The fact is that the HBCs in our diocese exist because of White racism. They were founded because of well-known, and well-documented White racism. They have continued to provide a space for the (comparatively) free exercise of faith and leadership for Black Episcopalians in our diocese that is necessary due to the persistence of White racism. 

It is also a fact that churches cost a certain amount to run. For the sake of simplicity, let's say the bare bones number in 2026 dollars to run a congregation per year is $100,000. Anyone who is familiar with church budgets will know that this is stretching what is possible with a full-time rector, but we will assume $100k for the sake of argument. Now let's say, again for the sake of simplicity, that we are just looking at a 100-year period, mostly in the 20th century, during which HBCs have operated. And, again, for the sake of simplicity, let us assume that there have been, on average, about ten HBCs operating at any given time in the diocese during that period. Some HBCs have operated longer than that. There have been periods with more HBCs than ten, but for the sake of simplicity of calculation we will keep the numbers low and round. We are looking at 10 HBCs over 100 years at $100,000 dollars a year for a minimum cost to operate of $100 million in 2026 dollars. Let us acknowledge, again, that this is a low estimate.

Now consider that the racial wealth gap in New Jersey is currently 20:1. It used to be significantly worse, but for the sake of simplicity let's say that during that whole period it has been 20:1. HBCs have had to exist because of White Episcopal racism, and have only managed to exist because of the sacrificial giving of Black Episcopalians. The result of this fact is that in order to function, Black Episcopalians have had to be generous with respect to their household wealth at approximately a 20:1 rate compared to White Episcopalians in order to have functioning churches. Black Episcopalians have had to give at an enormously higher rate than White Episcopalians have, just to make sure to have church communities of their own that are less subject to White racism than they would be subjected to at "integrated" churches (and in further evidence of this racism, the diocese has regularly attempted to liquidate Black churches and force integration, even while knowing this will subject Black Episcopalians to greater racism).

Fairness would suggest that because White racism has necessitated the existence of HBCs, and because the cost to run a church is what it is irrespective of race, and because Black Episcopalians have had to pay that cost to ensure the functioning of their HBCs, that Black Episcopalian household wealth has taken close to a $100 million hit over the past 100 years due exclusively to white Episcopal racism. Almost the entire amount required to run functioning HBCs over the past century has come from Black giving at a dramatically higher percentage of income and wealth than the rate required among White parishioners of White Churches (in a reversal of the same ratio as the wealth gap). If White racism did not require the existence of HBCs, Black Episcopalians could be free to give at the same wealth-rate as White people to maintain jointly attended churches. But White Episcopal racism operating in tandem with the New Jersey racial wealth gap (a separate product of White racism) has essentially robbed individual Black Episcopalians of an estimated $95 million out of an approximate $100 million cost to operate over the past century (and don't forget, this is already a very conservative estimate). And this does not address reparative justice for slavery or other kinds of racism, either to Black Episcopalians or to Black New Jerseyans generally. We are just talking about the direct financial effect of White racism on Black Episcopal household wealth due to the necessity of having HBCs in the Diocese of New Jersey.

The scale and scope of this harm is not generally appreciated. Yes, in recent history, the diocese has dedicated some money to HBCs, but it has been entirely of the wrong order of magnitude and has not meaningfully addressed the underlying harmful patterns. Meaningfully addressing the pattern of harm would mean stopping the yearly drain on Black wealth that comes from the persistence of White racism. For many reasons (but among them the fact that White racism is still clearly operative) HBCs are a necessary feature of our diocesan life. This is not debatable. But stopping the constant drain on Black wealth that occurs as a result of primarily parish-level funding requires de-siloing funding. According to the simplified calculations used here, it would require approximately $1 million a year to stabilize HBC finances in the diocese. In terms of future orientation, this figure should be viewed as the bare-minimum, no-strings, yearly disbursement to HBCs from the diocese as part of any reparative justice measure which aims to address adequately the underlying systemic inequity. 

This kind of coverage of 95% of baseline operating costs of HBCs by the White churches in the diocese should occur until there is meaningful change to the racial wealth gap in New Jersey. But it should NOT be viewed as a step which would preclude a larger separate disbursement addressing these and other past harms. This proposed measure is just to stop the bleeding. Other measures should address the accumulated negative effects of other past harms.

Yes, this is a lot of money. But consider that it is an amount of money that Black Episcopalians have been unfairly required to pay for over 100 years just to avoid White racism. It is past time that the White Episcopalians of the Diocese of New Jersey recognize that their wealth is the product of slavery and racism, that it has been accumulated at the expense of Black New Jerseyans, that White Episcopal racism specifically has had a dramatic negative effect on Black Episcopal wealth in the Diocese of New Jersey, and that, as a result, a very great debt is owed.

Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.
Reparations Commission Research Historian
Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey

Juneteenth is Coming Up. What is Juneteenth? How Can We Honor it?

Image courtesy St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church, Elizabeth

What is Juneteenth?[1] Juneteenth, also known as “Emancipation Day” or “Freedom Day,” holds tremendous significance in American history. On June 19, 1865, enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas were finally informed of their freedom, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued, having been shielded from this knowledge until late in the Civil War. But from the day of the coming of that good news, the occasion of its announcement was celebrated, first by local Black churches in Texas, and then, as time went on, throughout the nation, until Juneteenth was formally recognized as a federal holiday in 2021.

Slavery in all the states would not end (except as a punishment for a crime) until the 13th Amendment of the Constitution was ratified on December 6, 1865. New Jersey itself refused to pass the 13th amendment when it was first proposed, and was the last northern state to ratify it. Moreover, the ideals of this nation –particularly as described in the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution– have never been fully realized for many.

Observance of Juneteenth invites all Americans to acknowledge and tell the truth about our history, a history which is too often “white-washed,” sanitized and mythologized. Juneteenth not only honors the resilience and triumph of African Americans in their pursuit of freedom, but should stir us all to work diligently for an America that fulfills its highest ideals, not just for some, but for all its people.

How can we honor Juneteenth? The occasion of Juneteenth invites reflection and remembrance of the countless lives impacted by the institution of slavery and the ongoing injustices of racism. By acknowledging this painful history we honor the memory of those harmed, we seek deeper understanding, we commit to preventing the recurrence of the evils of the past, we commit to mending the evils of the present, and we seek a more just, inclusive, and equitable future. This observance necessarily involves recognizing the historical injustices committed against Black communities, and seeking their healing through the repair of those injustices (reparation).

We welcome everyone in the Diocese of New Jersey to participate in Juneteenth events and to embed Juneteenth observance, reflection, and repair into your liturgical observance. Such observances help us as faithful Christians and Episcopalians to “seek and serve Christ in all persons loving our neighbor as ourselves,” to “strive for justice and peace among all people,” and to “respect the dignity of every human being.” In public prayers center both those who waited so long for a word of freedom, and those who still wait for justice delayed.

[1] Text is drawn from W. Stokes, “Juneteenth Observances,” (June 2023), and W. Stokes “Celebrating Juneteenth: Honoring Freedom and Commemorating History,” (June 2023), edited by Jolyon Pruszinski. 

EVENT: Diocese of New Jersey Reparations Commission Slavery History Pilgrimage: Two Upcoming Opportunities (June 6 or July 18)

 

The Diocese of New Jersey Reparations Commission will offer its slavery history pilgrimage on two dates in the coming months: June 6 and July 18. The pilgrimage starts and ends in Perth Amboy and follows a liturgy of reflection and repentance through a circuit of sites of memory related to Anglican and Episcopal involvement in slavery. We will meet at 11am at the Perth Amboy Ferry Slip UNESCO slave trade marker to begin the pilgrimage. Email Rev. Beth Rauen Sciaino (priest@stbernardsnj.org) or Dr. Jolyon Pruszinski (jolyonp@princeton.edu) to let us know you'll be participating or if you have any questions. The full pilgrimage guide is available ONLINE and you can follow it yourself at any time.

Foreword by Elaine Pagels to "Anglican Slavery in New Jersey"

Jolyon Pruszinski and Elaine Pagels at Princeton University, May 16, 2024 (Photo by Molly Schneider)

 Those of us who are White Christians like to think that we stand for justice, for human equality, compassion, and kindness; certainly we oppose slavery and racism. That is why we owe a great debt to Jolyon Pruszinski for offering us this initial investigation of the history of slavery in the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey.

    At the start, he acknowledges his own previous ignorance of this history, an ignorance shared by most of us who have not personally been targets of racism. Those who grew up in public schools like mine, in the California town of Palo Alto, learned in history class that long ago in the past, Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves; now we could proudly endorse the “liberty and justice for all” that our Pledge of Allegiance celebrates. Never mentioned in our history class, however, was what preceded that event: two hundred and fifty years of horrific human trafficking in chattel slavery that helped build and enrich the towns and institutions familiar to us, most of them entirely dominated by White people like ourselves. The history we learned gave only a passing mention to the political struggle to maintain slavery and the horrors of the Civil War. Instead, at the time, our complacency seemed natural—almost our birthright. There was also East Palo Alto, where Cornel West, who later would become my colleague at Princeton, grew up, but I knew little of that, since most Black students were funneled into other school districts.

    But since the 1960s and 1970s, when intense conflict over issues of race increasingly broke into the open, some educators have brought much more of that hidden history to light, while others, to this day, are fighting hard to suppress it. Only more recently have Christians of many denominations begun to acknowledge, much less to reckon with, their part in this tangled and contested history.

    So I deeply appreciate the great service Jolyon Pruszinski has done for members of the Episcopal Church in New Jersey, and especially to members of Trinity Church, Princeton. In this current report, he shows the results of having investigated how, and in what ways, members of the Episcopal Church in New Jersey have engaged slavery and racism, from the first founding of Anglican churches in colonial times to the outbreak of the Civil War. His work is also ongoing, as he now intends to document what has happened from that time to the present.

    The report now before us, more than a history, comes as a manifesto. Pruszinski challenges us to stop avoiding painful truths, and to find freedom instead in acknowledging them, recognizing that the Episcopal churches in which we participate have reaped enormous benefits in wealth and influence from centuries of practicing slavery, segregation, and racism, often armed with scriptural justification. The facts he documents here challenge us not only to recognize what happened, but also to begin the process of repairing the harm in every way we can.

    Pruszinski ends with a call for each one of us to rediscover one another, echoing the prophet Micah’s call to “do justice; love mercy, and walk humbly with your God”—and with your neighbor, and mine.

Elaine Pagels
Professor of History of Religion, Princeton University

(From the Foreword (pp. xi-xii) to Anglican Slavery in New Jersey: An Initial Accounting (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2025), by Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski.)

VIDEO: REPARATIONS: A STATUS REPORT - FRONTIERS INT. PANEL APRIL 25, 2026

The Plainfield, New Jersey chapter of Frontiers International, one of the oldest Black service organizations in the United States, recently hosted a panel discussion on the state of reparations in New Jersey. The panel featured Dr. Jean-Pierre Brutus of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and New Jersey Reparations Council, the renowned organizer Lawrence Hamm, sociologist and congressional candidate Dr. Akil Khalfani, and Diocese of New Jersey Reparations Commission historian Dr. Jolyon Pruszinski. Frontiers has posted the video recording of the panel on their Youtube channel. Many thanks for the invite!

VIDEO: DIOCESE OF NEW JERSEY RESEARCH AT AHA WITH HSEC

The most recent newsletter from the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church (HSEC), The Clearinghouse, highlights research from the Diocese of New Jersey, with video! As part of a panel on reparations research and initiatives in the Episcopal Church organized by HSEC, the Diocesan Reparations Commission historian, Dr. Jolyon Pruszinski, presented on his recent research and the reparations initiatives in the Diocese of New Jersey at the American Historical Association (AHA) national conference in Chicago on January 10, 2026. The HSEC writes: "Watch a timely and important panel discussion, Anglican Slavery in New Jersey: Reparations Work in the Diocese of New Jersey and the Episcopal Church, available on the Historical Society’s YouTube Channel. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association in January 2026, this session brings together leading scholars and church historians to examine the complex legacy of Anglican involvement in slavery and the ongoing work of reparations within the Episcopal Church. Through thoughtful conversation, the panel explores how historical research is uncovering long-overlooked connections between Anglican institutions and slavery in New Jersey—and how this work is shaping efforts toward truth-telling, reconciliation, and repair today. Featuring: The Rev. Dr. Valerie Bailey (Moderator), Dr. Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski (Princeton University), The Rev. Dr. Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook (Historiographer of the Episcopal Church). The discussion highlights the vital role of archival research, institutional accountability, and theological reflection in advancing meaningful reparations initiatives." Many thanks to Matthew Payne of the HSEC for producing the video of the event, and to Drs. Bailey and Kujawa-Holbrook for the invite!

NEWS: "New York Diocese Outlines Plan for $1.2M Racial Reparations Fund" (RNS)

Reporter Fiona André of the Religion News Service (RNS) just published an article outlining recent developments in the Diocese of New York reparations initiative. The article is subtitled: "New York Episcopalians profited from the transatlantic slave trade and were ‘uniquely implicated in the odious institution and in anti-Black policies and practices that extend through generations,’ according to a new report." She writes:

The Episcopal Diocese of New York has launched the second phase of its racial reparations efforts, releasing a new report detailing how it plans to invest the nearly $1.2 million the diocesan convention began committing to the effort in 2019. The document, drafted by the diocese’s racial reparations commission and released publicly on March 17, describes a three-fold reparations process that is focused on: educating congregations about the diocese’s racist history; investing in Black communities in and outside of the Church; and pursuing reparations through a spiritual lens. It also makes recommendations on ways to sustain the reparations fund in the long term. “The report begins the next chapter of this work in a deepening of our commitment,” the Rt. Rev. Matthew F. Heyd, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, told RNS. “Our intention/commitment is to weave the recommendations of the report into the fabric of the diocese and into the whole of our ministries.”

For more information read the full article HERE.